The Effect of Smartphones on our Youth Is More than Frightening

Bron: www.santenatureinnovation.com/mauvaise-nouvelle-nos-enfants/
2 nov. 2017

Met de vertaling in het Engels van EMF Refugee

Nov. 2, 2017

Dear reader:

Nobody, I think, had anticipated the historic catastrophe caused by smartphones.

The American psychologist, Jean M. Twenge, has been studying the social and emotional behavior of young people for twenty-five years. It has observed in recent years an earthquake.

In an article entitled, ''Have smartphones destroyed a generation?'' 1 she explains that everything has changed since 2012.

That year, more than one in two teens were equipped with a smartphone. Today it is four out of five.

During this period, the following developments have occurred. They concern all stratas of the population, rich or poor:

• Depressive symptoms have increased by 50% for girls and 21% for boys between 2012 to 2015.
• The number of girls who committed suicide tripled between 2007 and 2015, and that of boys has doubled.
• The number of young people who see friends every day has dropped by 40% between the years 2000 and 2015.
• Currently, 16-year-olds are going out less than 12-year-olds did in 2009. They have gradually stopped going out to socialize in parks, squares, etc., and instead remain alone at home with their smartphones.
• In 2015, only 56% of the senior year students were ''going out'' with someone, compared to 85% of the young people ten years earlier, a figure that had been stable since the 1960s.
• The number of children who lack sleep has increased by 57% between the years 1991 and 2015.
• In the United States, where a driving license was the dream of all young people in the past — a passport for freedom —there is now a massive lack of interest among teenagers, who prefer to stay in their room on their smartphone and be driven by their parents.
• With regards to alcohol consumption and dating, teenagers behave as we did at age 15, and those at age 15 as we did at age 13.
• In spite of going out less often, the few times they do spend going out, their time abundantly consumed by communicating on Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook. And those who are not invited, therefore feel cruelly excluded: the number of girls feeling rejected and isolated has increased by 48% from 2010 to 2015 and the number of boys by 27%.

''I try to talk to them but they do not look at me. They are looking at their smartphones. ''

When teenagers try to connect with other adolescents of their own age, their method of interacting has become deeply degraded.

Indeed, although physically together, there is no interruption of their operation of smartphones.

''I try to talk to them about something, and they do not look me straight in the eye. They watch their phone or their Apple Watch,'' says a girl in the article cited above.

''And what does it do to you when you try to talk to someone face-to-face and he does not look at you?,'' asks a psychologist.

''It hurts me. It's terrible. I know that my parents' generation did not do that. I can be talking about something that is very important to me, and they do not even listen to me.''

Yes, we imagine that it hurts, indeed ...

Trapped by my smartphone

As far as I'm concerned, I got by without a mobile phone until a few months ago. For a long time, I managed with ''phone-cards.''

But public booths have gradually been removed. In an emergency, I would have to borrow someone's phone. But with the smartphone, they became more and more reluctant to lend it to me because of all their personal information: Too dangerous to leave it in the hands of a stranger, as friendly as he might seem to be.

In February, my bank sent me a letter explaining that all customers must now use their smartphone to ''scan'' a code appearing on the screen to access their account ...

Damn, I bought a smartphone. I was determined to use it only for the bank but, of course, very quickly I made my first calls and it rang to ring in return ...

The fall

In July, I used it, for the first time, connected to my car. In August, my daughter moved me to Whatsapp, and enrolled me in the family group, which caused me to feel vibrations every five minutes, and to see all sorts of ''notifications'' on the screen that my curiosity had the biggest harm to ignore.

Little by little, my life has changed.

Ten days ago, for the first time, I found myself walking down the street, texting.

But it's my bank that got the better of my resistance.

How my bank beat me

In February, my bank sent me a letter explaining that all customers must now use their smartphone to ''scan'' a code appearing on the screen to access their account ...

Damn, I bought a smartphone. I was determined to use it only for the bank but, of course, very quickly I made my first calls and it rang to ring in return ...

The fall

In July, I used it, for the first time, connected to my car. In August, my daughter moved me to Whatsapp, and enrolled me in the family group, which caused me to feel vibrations every five minutes, and to see all sorts of ''notifications'' on the screen that my curiosity had the biggest harm to ignore.

Little by little, my life has changed.

Ten days ago, for the first time, I found myself walking down the street, texting.

I then looked up around me. I no longer looked at the blue sky. I could not hear the birds singing anymore. I did not smile anymore to the passers-by (nor to the passers-by ...). I was in the psychic jail of my messengers and I realized that most of the people around me were ... the same.

The boss of Apple had banned the iPhone for his children

This morning, an article explains that the great Steve Jobs, the boss of Apple, had banned the smartphone for his children (2).

Similarly Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft, did not want a computer in his home.

Was there a problem somewhere that these ''computer geniuses'' had noticed that their customers had not?

''I'm talking about a time that people under twenty can not know ...''

People are forgetting how sweet life was before these machines. I remember it, I lived there a few months ago.

I was getting into my car, or the train, and I was really leaving.

I did not continue the conversation with the people I had just left. The separations were harder, but the reunion was also much more intense.

While traveling, I read. In my car, I dreamed. I listened to music without ever being interrupted by a brutal phone call.

When I arrived at a friend's house, I was there; I did not pursue parallel exchanges with colleagues or other people hundreds of miles away from me. It was more pleasant for everyone.

In meetings, at work, I focused only on the issues discussed around the table. I had no choice. I could not escape by hitting a screen to hear from family or friends, or to deal with other colleagues' issues.

I understand the exciting aspect of these machines. You are stimulated all the time. You feel important. You have the impression of being in the game, of leading a hectic life. You are intoxicated. The thrill of modern life, connected, always moving.

You get delicious shots of adrenaline every time it beeps, it buzzes, it sounds.

But if you stare at it, you are also much more likely to become a depressed zombie.

So this time, it's decided: I will leave my smartphone at home! Once a month, I will consult my accounts, and that will be all.

I break my chains. I'm going back to the normal world. I put a stop to depression, insomnia, and suicidal ideation. Farewell, my smartphone!

Cheers !

JM Dupuis



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